With the closing of the fashion/design office in CA and the Whirlpool talks on appliances, Sears is making a shift to hardlines as a new focus. There are also on going discussions to team with Sears Home Town and Outlet to use their new point of sale and computer system.
22 replies (most recent on top)
Finally the end of the Martinez era! The softer side of sears was the beginning of the end! Why chase super low margin ultra competitive fashions that take up so much floor space?!?!? That’s not Sears’ core competency. Never has been!!
" There are also on going discussions to team with Sears Home Town and Outlet to use their new point of sale and computer system."
Gee, that actually sounds like it would make some sense.
@1jxq Don't get your hopes up... OP just said new software, which does not necessarily mean new hardware.
With a focus on hard-lines, be prepared for more commission based compensation instead of a straight hourly wage.
Better hope the stores are busy
Well it's a good thing we're getting new POS because not 1 in 5 of the old ones work in our store, and the rest are literally held with duct tape.
I don't know what's happening because I'm not that level of employee but the thoughts on here make sense for my store. Hardlines, men's protective work clothes, basic softlines such as underwear and socks, appliances with functional warranties would make sense. And fine jewelry.
All it takes is tracking the categories that have continued to sell during these hard time and enhancing those.
The OP is spot on. The design office is being downsized. We are shifting from apparel to hard lines. Sorry some here can't deal with it. Sad trolls as usual.
Aye. Chinese suppliers work at penny margins. When Sears stopped paying the bills it caused entire factories to shutdown causing tens of thousands of lost jobs. And in China when loans don't get paid they literally take the interest in blood, it caused a little drama in Drain's court a couple of weeks back. There was a minor ruckus on China Weibo as well. Just another way Eddie has casually ruined families this past year without cause or care for his own greed.
Gonna need to see an actual source on that one, not rumors and unsubstantiated claims.
@ibtz lots of vendors went out of business. We're talking hundreds in China and stateside. Not getting paid for months after shipping entire containers of product tends to do that.
Eddie’s plan doesn’t pay the vendors a dime. He’s paying Sears 58 cents or so on the dollar. None of them have gone bankrupt yet either, else it would have been all over the news about how Eddie is forcing vendors out of business to make himself more money.
They are kinda getting stiffed. The one and only reason they backed Eddie’s bid is that they will get paid faster for outstanding claims if he takes over the company instead of being forced to litigate the issue for years in court with minimal recovery. They’re unsecured, and the way things are going they might get 20 cents on the dollar for those few that were still shipping totally on credit.
Eddie's plan pays them 60 cents on the dollar. The ones that didn't already go bankrupt that is. No help for the sublessees driven out of business because they went unpaid for months because they used Sears shared merchant services either. The vendor's paid post Oct 15th? That's administrative expenses paid out of the DIP. Very impressive.
The posters who keep saying vendors got stiffed in the bankruptcy no one got stiffed, they filed reclamations in case of liquidation. Vendors got paid, Eddie’s plan pays them. There is little reason not to ship now since the company will be awash in lines of credit with little debt,
The ONLY "new focus" is Eddie Lampert pulling the copper plumbing from the walls of Sears and selling it for sc-ap. People thinking there's a go forward strategy as a retail enterprise have been asleep for the past 13 years,
Not a single associate nor member of management has left our DC so if anyone has retention issues it is obviously at store level. HE cuts are often necessary and the first made, afterall these are the ones buying what is being stocked at the stores. Maybe new blood is what is needed to improve the customer service that has been lacking for so long at the stores. A new day is dawning folks and now we wait to see what that day holds.
The SF Apparel /Design office is not closing. OP doesn’t have a clue what they’re talking about.
The focus is going to be on whoever is stupid enough to still sell to Sears. Even if Sears manages to emerge from bankruptcy, which is still far from a sure thing, vendors got f---ed hardcore in October. Who wants to go through a second round?
Ross, Tjmaxx, and Macy's sell more apparel and better selections
Pennys has better stuff always has
Already in the works. Huge cutbacks on softlines, shifting to workwear for men, expansion of craftsman clothing line for example. Probably be a few more weeks of planning tho.
Whoever is left at HE today had better focus harder on an associate retention plan than anything. After the last 2 years of routine layoffs, cutting people's severance, and scapegoating employees and pensioners for the bankruptcy - i don't know anyone who isn't looking for a new job or doesn't already have one foot out the door. There's zero incentive to stay here and nostalgia doesn't pay the bills. Pretty soon there won't be any employees left and Eddie's C-Suite will be the only one's left to sell cheap watches out of the trunks of their cars.
Great ideas. I still think full line stores should carry essential soft lines but not the racks and racks of cluttered junk that have been there for years before. This isn’t Penney’s and it isn’t Target or Wal Mart.